Chances nil for separate budget for Tinian, Rota

A proposal to earmark separate funding for Rota and Tinian to promote tourism may go to naught if the FY 2001 budget does not get approval as hoped for by the Senate.

Sen. Joaquin G. Adriano, who has been pressing the proposal, said the move has drawn opposition from members of the House and Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes who are part of the bicameral conference tackling the budget.

Noting potential deadlock on the budget issue, the senator from Tinian said it is unlikely to get the proposal out in a separate measure.

The Marianas Visitors Authority has objected to it, citing impact on its promotion since they said it would reduce the funds set aside for that purpose to accommodate the creation of two satellite offices, one each on Rota and Tinian.

“I don’t understand why they are against it when the budget is still going to be there,” Mr. Adriano told in an interview. “We are not taking away the money.”

He maintained the budget set aside for MVA for FY 2001 would still be used by the main office, adding the two island municipalities would only want guarantee of their share of the $6 million appropriation.

Two new positions — a deputy director for each of the island — have been proposed to be created if the proposal is approved. Rota and Tinian are expected to receive half-a-million dollars each to operate the separate MVA offices.

According to Mr. Adriano, this would be similar to the set-up of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. which has its respective deputy directors on the two islands, aside from Saipan.

“These are the things we would like to see as changes in the budget,” he explained. “We need to upgrade the budget process.”

The senator earlier has insisted that promotion and marketing efforts would remain a joint undertaking of the three islands under the MVA’s guidance amid criticisms of his proposal.

Under the Senate’s version of the spending measure, MVA would get $4.9 million — a cut of over a million dollars from the $6 million proposed by the House.

Some of the funds were shifted by senators to establish the Rota and Tinian offices, but the expenditure authority would remain with the MVA managing director.

Some lawmakers, however, have aired concerns that such a proposal could undermine further the effectiveness of current promotion and thus harm efforts to attract more tourists into the CNMI.

MVA officials are hoping the Legislature will reinstate their initial budget allocation, although they have stressed this is still not enough in view of more promotional dollars being pumped by competitors such as Hawaii and Guam.